Fans can expect older songs along with some of Blue Rodeo’s newer material when the band takes the GFL Memorial Gardens stage this Thursday.
Bazil Donovan, the band’s bass player, called SooToday from Winnipeg to talk about the band and their tour, including their show in the Sault.
He was 29 when he joined Blue Rodeo with Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor, Bob Wiseman and Cleave Anderson.
“By that time I thought, ‘what are the chances of making it?’” he said.
What impressed him about Cuddy and Keelor were their ability to write songs.
“They had already written probably 50 songs each by the time I met them,” he said.
“And they weren’t just writing songs, they could also perform them too. The whole package was there,” Donovan said.
“One had a grittier sound and the other one was more pop oriented. You know, Jim's got that beautiful ballad voice and Greg's has a little bit of a bite to it.
“And I like the combination of that,” Donovan said.
The band immediately felt a strong connection.
“After playing for five minutes together, we knew we were going to be a band. It was instant. You just plugged it in and it worked.”
When Blue Rodeo first formed in the early 80s, they started out just playing music that the band liked, Donovan said.
What kept the fans coming out over the years was the quality of the music and the level of the song writing.
The band now consists of Cuddy, Keelor, Donovan, guitarist Jim Bowskill - who played in the Sheepdogs and had his Dahon folding bike stolen in Winnipeg the same day Donovan spoke with SooToday, drummer Glenn Milchem, keyboardist Michael Boguski, and guitarist Colin Cripps.
And now, the band might be playing better than it ever has.
“We have a fantastic band. I think, player for player, right now we sound better than we've ever sounded. And oddly enough our shows are bigger than they ever were.
“We're playing arenas where we used to play in theatres. The band is firing on all cylinders now and it's so great to be this far in our career.”
This year the band filmed a documentary with the CBC and also released a best-of album called Greatest Hits Volume 2.
Donovan said fans might get treated to a new album at some point next year, perhaps by December 2026.
“We were working on a new song yesterday. It was one of Greg's and when I heard it I was like, 'well this is going to end up a good song.'
“And I was thinking, ‘wow, here I am after 40 years working on a new record.’ It's just amazing. I feel truly blessed."
Tickets are available here.
The show starts at 8 p.m. with doors opening at 7 p.m.